Chichibu Night Festival in Saitama, Mon Dec 2 - Tue Dec 3, 2013

As one of Japan’s ‘big three’ float festivals (along with Kyoto’s Gion Festival and the Hida Takayama Festival), this festival has been Chichibu’s main event for December for 300 years.

The festival’s showcase attractions are two elaborately carved floats resplendent with lanterns, which are pulled along and then hoisted up by men in mawashi loincloths.

The climax of the festival is the incredibly popular fireworks display, which is particularly beautiful in the clear winter air.

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The Chichibu Night Festival is considered one of Japan's top three festivals to feature floats, the others beingKyoto's Gion Matsuri and the Takayama Matsuri. Its floats are ornately decorated with lanterns, tapestries and gilded wood carvings and are accompanied by drum and flute music.

The festival's other attraction is its fireworks display, which lasts almost two and a half hours and gives you the rare opportunity to enjoy Japanese fireworks during winter. Additionally, the streets are lined with stands selling festival foods and amazake (sweet rice wine) to combat the cold December night.

The main events of the Chichibu Festival take place on December 3. In the afternoon and early evening, the six floats are displayed in their respective neighborhoods and at Chichibu Shrine, before they are being pulled through the streets of Chichibu towards the city hall from around 19:00.

The climax takes place on the plaza in front of the city hall, when one float after the other is pulled up the slope onto the plaza and they all line up. From 19:30 to 22:00 a long, spread out fireworks display is held, which can be seen from many places around town. The main action of the festival ends around 22:00, allowing it festival goers to catch the last trains back into Tokyo.

Due to the festival's popularity, it gets very crowded, especially along the parade route and around the plaza in front of the city hall. For good views of the action on the plaza, you will need to get there very early to secure a spot, reserve seats in advance or content yourself with viewing it on the big screen in front of Seibu Chichibu Station.

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